The Last Thought
by Flower Powerer
Summary: They say the last thought you have before you fall asleep is directly connected to the love of your life. [DH Spoilers]


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AN: Deathly Hallows spoilers. A little one-shot for my favorite pairing. Dedicated to Kerri, if she reads it!

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The Last Thought

"You know," Luna Lovegood said in her usual dreamy voice, "They say the last thought you have before you fall asleep is directly connected to the love of your life."

George Weasley dropped his fork onto the dinner table, leaned back and let out a hearty laugh. "What, like, if you're thinking about how you're going to have to chuck garden gnomes all weekend, you're going to marry a garden gnome?"

The rest of the dinner table held back snickers, while Luna turned her steady gaze upon George. "Maybe," she said, "Or maybe you'll just fall in love with someone with an unusual amount of garden gnomes in their backyard."

"Then be careful not to think about garden gnomes tonight, or you'll be sure to marry George!" Ginny piped in, grinning.

The entire table laughed at this, George included - he was always one to appreciate a good joke.

It was a typical summer dinner at the Burrow - seated outside in the garden to accommodate the massive amount of guests, the party was munching on some of Mrs. Weasley's best homemade cooking and sipping butterbeer delightfully.

It was the first summer with every Weasley child out of Hogwarts - Ginny had just finished her seventh year, making the entire party full of "adults".

The entire Weasley clan was there - minus Fred of course. It still brought a sharp pang to George's chest whenever he thought about things that way. Minus Fred. He tried his best not to think about it very often.

Harry and Hermione were also visiting - seated close to Ginny and Ron respectively. Not married yet, but soon enough, George figured. He saw the way things were heating up between each couple now that the war was good and over. Things were finally returning to normal and settling down - they were all set to think about their futures and who belonged in them. And as they all eyed Fleur and Bill jealously, George figured marriage was on the young folks' minds.

It kind of irked him - he was significantly older than them and was not at all thinking about getting married. Ginny was just out of school - just a kid! But he liked Harry, so he didn't let it get to him _that_ much.

The other guest in attendance was Miss Luna Lovegood herself - loony and dreamy as always, always with a sort of dazed smile on her face. She had taken to visiting the Weasleys a lot lately - George figured the drama at home at not yet settled with her father and she found it a lot more pleasurable in the company of such a large group, even if they tended to laugh at her, for a lack of a better word, _original_ ideas.

"Well," George said, "Here's hoping I'm not thinking about Quidditch as I lie in bed, or I might end up marrying Viktor Krum." He paused as everyone laughed around him. "Well, he _is_ pretty good looking..."

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George Weasley closed his bedroom door behind him, looking around the room sleepily. It was well past one in the morning - the entire family had stayed up late, talking and joking, concluding in a midnight match of Quidditch that wiped everyone out. George was ready to sleep.

He crawled into his bed, pulling the covers over his head. It was the only way he could fall asleep in this room - with Fred's empty bed still in here. The family never removed it because they figured it would have upset George, but George honestly found it more disturbing that it remained here. It was just..._hard_ to think that Fred would never sleep in that bed again...

Ah, but he couldn't think about that now! Not only was it very depressing, but, he thought, he wouldn't want that to be his last thought before he fell asleep, or he might have to marry Fred. And there was just something _wrong_ about marrying your dead twin brother's corpse.

_That Luna Lovegood sure thinks up some pretty crazy things,_ George thought, yawning.

She had been at the Burrow every day that week. Even was Ginny and Harry were out double dating with Ron and Hermione, she came. And it was up to George, the youngest remaining Weasley, to entertain her.

Sometimes they played a modified version of Quidditch against each other - Luna wasn't very good, but she seemed to enjoy it. George admitted she was quite a sight on a broomstick, her hair blowing back in the wind. She laughed a lot, smiled...her eyes kind of gleamed a different way...

Sometimes he took her up here. He worked on business stuff while she sat on his bed - never Fred's, like she _knew_ - and jabbered away about whatever mystical creature she was sure she had spotted this week. He enjoyed her nonsense talk, mainly because she never seemed unnerved when he joked back with her. He could have sworn her eyes would lose that dreamy quality and take on something else...

And sometimes...he talked, and she listened. That was the strangest thing. She never asked. About Fred. But one day, he just...burst. Suddenly found himself confiding in Luna everything he had hid from the rest of the world. How _sad_ he was...devastated, really. How hard it was to keep joking at the dinner table when everyone was there but Fred. How he couldn't look at that bed...how he wanted that God-forsaken bed out of this room.

And she listened. She nodded at all the right times. She said the most comforting words - and he never once felt like snapping at her, "BUT YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND!" like he did to so many others. He felt like maybe she did understand. In fact, he knew she did. He could see it in her eyes...those eyes that seemed to glow with a different light when he was with her...

_Stop it!_ George thought to himself, through the sleepy fog that was creeping upon him. _She's just a kid. She's as old as your little sister._

_Ah, yes,_ said another side of him. _Same age as Ginny. Which is, my friend, of age._

_And you know, all these thoughts of her right before you fall asleep, well, they might be connected to the love of your life!_

He smiled a little. _That Luna Lovegood. She sure thinks up the craziest things..._

And with that, George Weasley fell asleep.

---

Luna arrived the next afternoon for lunch.

"Oh, hello, George," She said, casually.

"'Ello Luna!" He said. For some reason, he felt happier than ever to see her.

"What did you think about last night, before you fell asleep?" She said, with the same tone of someone asking how the weather was.

"Can't remember. Quidditch, I reckon. Guess I ought to send an owl to Krum, then, huh?" He said, winking.

"Funny," Luna said, serenely. "I remember garden gnomes."


End file.
